"To summarise, BCM2835 has a tile mode architecture - so it kills immediate-mode devices like Tegra on fill-rate - and we've chosen to configure it with a very large amount of shader performance," Upton told GamesIndustry in an interview (sub. required). "So it does very well on compute-intensive benchmarks, and should double iPhone 4S performance across a range of content."

Despite the bold claims surrounding performance, Upton notes that the hardware is not expected to be compatible with Windows 8. The micro PCs are built with an ARM11 chip, however Windows 8 will require an ARMv7 processor.

The Linux-based micro PCs will be available in two variations: a $25 model with 128MB of RAM or a $35 edition that adds an extra USB port, Ethernet port and 256MB of RAM.